Researchers in Spain have found that gulls visiting from Britain are transporting important quantities of plastic waste from landfill websites to key wetland
areas.
The threats posed by plastic air pollution to marine environments have lengthy been understood however this research sheds new gentle on the potential issues confronted by
freshwater websites. A paper lately printed by the Doñana Organic Station, of the Spanish Science Council (CSIC), and in collaboration with the British Belief for Ornithology (BTO), reveals how birds feeding on landfill websites ingest important quantities of plastic and different particles then later deposit these indigestible fragments whereas roosting at pure wetlands.
Gulls, like birds of prey and owls, regurgitate pellets typically containing fish bones, feathers and different non-edible gadgets. Nevertheless, these birds feeding on open landfills typically ingest plastic, glass and textiles together with human meals waste. And whereas we know that consuming these pollution may cause severe direct hurt to birds’ well being, this analysis reveals that the issues may have far larger ecological affect than beforehand anticipated.
Lesser Black-backed Gull, copyright Glyn Sellors, from the surfbirds galleries
The research targeted on Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a standard wintering chicken in Andalusia, south-west Spain. The birds, which had been fitted with GPS tags at breeding websites within the UK together with colonies in Cumbria and Pembrokeshire, have been monitored as they fed on the landfills and moved to roost and bathe on the internationally essential Fuente de Piedra lake nature reserve in Malaga. Pellets disgorged by the gulls have been collected on the lake and 86% of those have been discovered to comprise plastics. Researchers revealed that round 400 kg of plastic is deposited by gulls into the lake, well-known for its colony of Flamingos, every winter.
As soon as within the lake, these plastics have nowhere to go and can finally break down in microplastics, inflicting attainable long-term threats to different wildlife and the broader surroundings.
Senior creator on this analysis research, Professor Andy Inexperienced mentioned, “After we throw plastics away, a few of them are prone to find yourself on being carried by birds into wetlands. It’s one more reason we have to scale back the quantity of plastic waste we generate.”
All through Europe, gulls feed broadly on landfills and different waste websites, earlier than heading to roost at wetlands, lakes and different freshwater areas.
Dr Chris Thaxter, Senior Analysis Ecologist with the BTO mentioned, “This research suggests that the translocation of dangerous plastics might be extra widespread and problematic than we’d assumed. Gulls are extremely cellular and act as extremely environment friendly biovectors, transporting these pollution appreciable distances, posing but extra threats to essential wetland habitats throughout the globe.”
